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Teachers are whiny, of that there is NO question. BUT
ALL parents should be REQUIRED to volunteer in their child's classroom for three straight hours at least once, and see how their little darlings stack up. I will die on this hill.
There are whiny people in every profession. There are whiny software engineers and bankers who make $500K+.
I wouldn't want to be a classroom teacher even for $200K/year.
My wife teaches 2nd grade at an LI public school. She has a masters degree and is in her 7th year of teaching, 3rd year full time on Long Island. She works her tail off for a low 70k salary in a low income district with a lot of troubled kids and families. COVID really set these kids back socially, especially the younger ones who lost 2 years of in-person instruction and have no idea how to act in a classroom. Aside from the kids, the level of drama and social tension between the school faculty is insane. Too much mental stress for that level of pay. She’s contemplated switching career paths several times but she is a year away from tenure, and pregnant. I give her a lot of credit. I wake up later, work from my home office and don’t have to deal with any of the drama while earning a higher salary. So blanketyblank, we’re on the same page here lol
It's all about the parents. It's very rare that a decent family has a bad kid. Yes, they might be a bit obnoxious or rude or even a bit dull but it's very rare that they're a straight up bad kid. COVID did a number on society in NY (but especially NYC in general). There was a huge exodus (and still is) of middle and upper middle class families. I'm not saying that a poorer family can't be decent but on average there are many more issues with kids from poorer families. Even with all of our issues in this country, people who stay poor for long stretches of time are poor for a reason.
In schools, just like in society, there's a tipping point. Let's say there are 20 idiots for every 100 people and society can function perfectly fine. Introduce the 21st idiot and society starts to completely breakdown. The same goes for schools. It doesn't take much to turn a decent school into a terrible school and COVID took a lot of decent schools and turned them into terrible schools.
As for switching career paths, my wife has also talked about it much over the past year. I had to convince my wife to get out of the classroom because she does truly love being a classroom teacher. However, I saw the writing on the wall and that it won't get better in NYC for a long time to come. There's no point in beating one's head against a wall.
Out of classroom teachers/staff just have it easier and there's a reason many leave the classroom 8-10 years in. LI probably has way less out of classroom positions and less turnover than NYC DOE and that is an issue.
There are a lot of useless and overpaid staff at schools but classroom teachers aren't one of them. Classroom teachers simply can't pull the same stunts and slack off like out of classroom teachers. You have to show up and perform (literally) everyday. If you're not there, people notice. It's not an easy job and I wouldn't do it even if my salary was doubled. I would strangle the first kid that did something stupid.
It's all about the parents. It's very rare that a decent family has a bad kid. Yes, they might be a bit obnoxious or rude or even a bit dull but it's very rare that they're a straight up bad kid. COVID did a number on society in NY (but especially NYC in general). There was a huge exodus (and still is) of middle and upper middle class families. I'm not saying that a poorer family can't be decent but on average there are many more issues with kids from poorer families. Even with all of our issues in this country, people who stay poor for long stretches of time are poor for a reason.
In schools, just like in society, there's a tipping point. Let's say there are 20 idiots for every 100 people and society can function perfectly fine. Introduce the 21st idiot and society starts to completely breakdown. The same goes for schools. It doesn't take much to turn a decent school into a terrible school and COVID took a lot of decent schools and turned them into terrible schools.
As for switching career paths, my wife has also talked about it much over the past year. I had to convince my wife to get out of the classroom because she does truly love being a classroom teacher. However, I saw the writing on the wall and that it won't get better in NYC for a long time to come. There's no point in beating one's head against a wall.
Out of classroom teachers/staff just have it easier and there's a reason many leave the classroom 8-10 years in. LI probably has way less out of classroom positions and less turnover than NYC DOE and that is an issue.
There are a lot of useless and overpaid staff at schools but classroom teachers aren't one of them. Classroom teachers simply can't pull the same stunts and slack off like out of classroom teachers. You have to show up and perform (literally) everyday. If you're not there, people notice. It's not an easy job and I wouldn't do it even if my salary was doubled. I would strangle the first kid that did something stupid.
It’s not as easy to get a non classroom job as a teacher. It’s basically IEP or Setts my wife’s title changes every few years depending on where the funding comes from. As you said earlier ell/esl, whatever its called now. Those are really the only 2 positions and many schools have none or 1. Depends on the grade level my wife is elementary it’s not that bad. Should be no shock the kids in her school that cause the most problems are migrants and the handful of kids that have waivers to go to her school as they don’t live in the area. To do iep or setts you have to have your license in special ed, if she is gen ed it’s almost impossible to leave classroom. You can’t even teach gym now if that’s not your license.
It’s not as easy to get a non classroom job as a teacher. It’s basically IEP or Setts my wife’s title changes every few years depending on where the funding comes from. As you said earlier ell/esl, whatever its called now. Those are really the only 2 positions and many schools have none or 1. Depends on the grade level my wife is elementary it’s not that bad. Should be no shock the kids in her school that cause the most problems are migrants and the handful of kids that have waivers to go to her school as they don’t live in the area. To do iep or setts you have to have your license in special ed, if she is gen ed it’s almost impossible to leave classroom. You can’t even teach gym now if that’s not your license.
I've heard that for LI as well. The issue is also that LI has much less turnover than NYC DOE. If you can believe it, the turnover for NYC DOE during the first 3 years for teachers nears 40%.
In NYC DOE there are tons of out of classroom position and there is currently a sizable shortage of ESL teachers. My wife currently teaches in a K-8 school (about 1,000 kids) and there are 4
Hence, the DOE automatically granting tenure in ESL to any existing tenured teacher who obtains their ESL license. It seemed like a no brainer to me.
Last edited by blanketyblank; 01-10-2024 at 08:15 PM..
$640K when worse homes go for $750K+? Am I missing something? There seem to be a few of these popping up from time to time and I can only figure out that the RE agent wants a bidding war?
Well I think I deserve a job that pays $225k a year because I deserve it just because that’s what I know I’m worth and anything less won’t even get me out of bed in the morning. And fully covered medical benefits. Why should I have to pay for my benefits? I deserve to have these. And of course a great pension. That’s what I deserve and what I want and I wont take anything less. It would just be ridiculous. Why should I have to suffer and have an inferior quality of life? No way.
I'm recently retired now and many of my summer days are spent hanging out at the beach with former retired teachers (who are my age and retired ten-fifteen years ago with 70k-80k pensions).
Among recent conversations last year was hearing complaints that their insurance co-pays went up to $25.
As a retired software engineer with a nationally known contractor, I was offered continuing health insurance at $1800 a month at retirement. I was paying $7500/year with $3600 deductable for medical alone without perscriptions when employed.
I try to explain to them that they have it pretty darn good .
Response I ususally hear "Well years ago, we had no co-pays".
I'm recently retired now and many of my summer days are spent hanging out at the beach with former retired teachers (who are my age and retired ten-fifteen years ago with 70k-80k pensions).
Among recent conversations last year was hearing complaints that their insurance co-pays went up to $25.
As a retired software engineer with a nationally known contractor, I was offered continuing health insurance at $1800 a month at retirement. I was paying $7500/year with $3600 deductable for medical alone without perscriptions when employed.
I try to explain to them that they have it pretty darn good .
Response I ususally hear "Well years ago, we had no co-pays".
Just to clarify, my sarcastically fired comment was not a direct attack on teachers, but a general observation of the attitudes of people in the workforce, or attempting to be in the workforce.
Your reply reflects this attitude as well. Sometimes people don’t realize how good they actually have it, and will never be satisfied.
$640K when worse homes go for $750K+? Am I missing something? There seem to be a few of these popping up from time to time and I can only figure out that the RE agent wants a bidding war?
Few of the houses I’ve seen sold over there after some price adjustments lower. Starting to cool off a little. Rates coming down a little so we will see what happens this year. Only so many people can pay top dollar on top of very high rates.
$640K when worse homes go for $750K+? Am I missing something? There seem to be a few of these popping up from time to time and I can only figure out that the RE agent wants a bidding war?
I’ve noticed that every once in a while you’ll see a house come on the market in the Merrick/Bellmore area that looks like an absolute steal. There could be an issue with the house that would be apparent while at the open house or during an inspection that you wouldn’t know about from the Zillow listing. Generally speaking, when north of Sunrise Highway, most find the area east of Merrick avenue to be a bit more desirable and thus, prices are higher. Merrick Woods, located along both sides of Hewlett Avenue from Smith Street to Woodland Terrace, is arguably the most desirable section of Merrick. I also love the Wenshaw Park section, which is further north between Jerusalem/Van Nostrand and Little Whaleneck/Whittier. Not many homes on the market in that area though.
Few of the houses I’ve seen sold over there after some price adjustments lower. Starting to cool off a little. Rates coming down a little so we will see what happens this year. Only so many people can pay top dollar on top of very high rates.
Banks have gotten a lot more strict. They’re basically not looking at anyone with less than a 20% down payment and even then if it’s only 20%, the standards have tightened quite a bit. There’s plenty of demand relative to supply so the banks get to choose the most creditworthy candidates. Also during the last few years there are a substantial number of applicants with $1K car payments (or even multiple) and banks hate to see that.
Last edited by blanketyblank; 01-13-2024 at 04:45 PM..
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